[willnz]

Yep, high school socialisation is so far removed from real life socialisation it’s funny. When I look back at my public school years I laugh to think we were supposedly learning vital social skills!

What other part of life do you interact with only people who were born in the same year as you were (and, in the case of some schools, only your sex)?

Homeschooled children (in my experience) learn to make friends with kids a lot older and younger than they are. They also learn to look after and teach younger ones, and learn from older ones.

I went to public school myself, my wife was homeschooled (for all but two high school years), and we homeschool our five kids. There’s pretty much no reason I’d consider sending them to school, unless they want to in their high school years (so far our oldest doesn’t).

[sharadov]

I had friends from other grades when I was in middle school - was part of sports teams and I trained for an entire summer with kids who were 2 years older than me. Initially they bossed me, but over time they really took me under their wing.

In the neighborhood I lived - had some friends who were 3-4 years older. Maybe my experience is unusual, but those were great times!